The Rise of Financial Capitalism: International Capital Markets in the Age of Reason (Studies in Monetary and Financial History)This work establishes the existence of a sophisticated and smoothly functioning system of financial markets in the mercantile states of northwestern Europe throughout the 1700s. Based on computer analysis of thousands of price quotes from the financial press of the eighteenth century, the results should force both historians and economists to reevaluate their understanding of the evolution of financial markets and their importance for the economic developments of that era.

Theories of Value and Distribution Since Adam Smith; Ideology and Economic TheoryMr Dobb examines the history of economic thought in the light of the modern controversy over capital theory and, more particularly, the appearance of Sraffa's book The Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, which was a watershed in the critical discussions constituted a crucial turning-point in the history of economics: an estimate not unconnected with his reinterpretation of nineteenth-century economic thought as consisting of two streams or traditions commonly confused under the generic title of 'the classical tradition' against which Jevons so strongly reacted.

Topics in Microeconomics: Industrial Organization, Auctions and IncentivesThis book in microeconomics focuses on the strategic analysis of markets under imperfect competition, incomplete information, and incentives. Part I of the book covers imperfect competition, from monopoly and regulation to the strategic analysis of oligopolistic markets. Part II explains the analytics of risk, stochastic dominance, and risk aversion, supplemented with a variety of applications from different areas in economics. Part III focuses on markets and incentives under incomplete information, including a comprehensive introduction to the theory of auctions, which plays an important role in modern economics.

Life on the English Manor (Studies in Mediaeval Life & Thought)This book gives a picture of the daily and yearly round of the English peasant in the Middle Ages. H. S. Bennett explains the feudal system which linked the poor man to the soil and to the service of his lord and the church in a pattern of customary duesand rights, payments, labours and small privileges. The author gives lively details of the pattern of medieval country life: the influence of the seasons and the state of contemporary knowledge on the work of the fields; the place of religion in everydaylife; the workings of feudal justice; popular attitudes to the social structure; the business of getting a living. Since all the inhabitants of England outside the few large towns were essentially countrymen, this is an introduction to life in medieval England as a whole.

The First Industrial Revolutions (The Nature of Industrialization)

The Celys and Their World: An English Merchant Family of the Fifteenth CenturyFrom the start of his career as a young woolmerchant, about 1473, George Cely was a hoarder. He kept everything, from important business accounts down to the scrap of paper on which his father had once noted that the brewer and tailor hadn't been paid yet. The result is a rich collection, which not merely documents the Cely family's activities as staplers and ship-owners, but also gives vivid details of their intimate concerns: what they ate and wore, where they lived, how they spent their money - and where they went for loans when the cash ran short - how they amused themselves, and how they coped with trade recessions and political turmoil at home and abroad. This is the first comprehensive study to be based on the material.

Agriculture in Depression 1870-1940 (New Studies in Economic and Social History , No 26)This concise survey of British agriculture between 1870 and 1940 shows how, after a period of comparative prosperity, British farmers faced a period of depression. The prime cause was the increase in world food supplies and the competition from cheaper producers. The author explains how this agricultural depression affected all groups in British farming in different ways. He provides a succinct survey of the recent literature on the subject and outlines the major areas of controversy. A comprehensive bibliography is provided to help the reader pursue the subject in more detail.

The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry (New Studies in Economic and Social History, 24)This book is a concise and lucid review of the strengths and weaknesses of the British motor industry during the one hundred years since its foundation. Placing the industry firmly in a European context, the author first assesses its achievements before 1960, and then tests the various explanations that have been offered to explain its decline in the past thirty years. He examines the role of government, of the trade unions, of management and of the multinationals, all of which have been seen as major players in the industry's demise.

The Growth of Big Business in the United States and Western Europe, 1850-1939 (New Studies in Economics and Social History)This book provides the first available introductory, comparative account of the rise of giant business corporations in America and Europe in the century before the Second World War. It discusses the evolution of firms such as Ford, Exxon, Unilever and Siemens, as well as introducing the reader to the major explanations that have been advanced by historians and economists in order to account for these developments in the global economic order.

Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930 (New Studies in Economic and Social History)Why did sixty million people leave Europe for overseas destinations between 1815 and 1930? What were the social and economic causes and effects of this mass migration? Why did some people emigrate and not others, and why did so many emigrants return to Europe? This short, comprehensive survey answers these and other questions regarding emigration from different parts of Europe. Written specifically for undergraduate students, it reviews the current literature in several European languages, summarizes both economic and demographic theories, and analyzes the relation between economic change in Europe and the emigration rate.